1822 - Brazil declared its independence from Portugal after 322 years as a colony.

September 8

1900 - A hurricane with winds of 120 mph struck Galveston, Texas, killing over 8,000 persons, making it the worst natural disaster in US history. The hurricane and tidal wave that followed destroyed over 2,500 buildings.

1974 - A month after resigning the presidency in disgrace as a result of the Watergate scandal, Richard Nixon was granted a full pardon by President Gerald R. Ford for all offenses committed while in office.

September 9

1776 - The United States came into existence as the Continental Congress changed the name of the new American nation from the United Colonies.

1948 - Following the withdrawal of Soviet forces from North Korea, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea was proclaimed with Pyongyang as its capital.

1976 - Long time leader of Communist China, Chairman Mao Zedong, died. As a Chinese revolutionary soldier and statesman, he had proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949 in Beijing.

1993 - Israel and the PLO (Palestine Liberation Organisation) agreed to recognise each other, paving the way for a possible peaceful end to the hundred year old conflict between Arabs and Jews in the Mideast.

September 10

1943 - Hitler's troops occupied Rome and took over the protection of Vatican City.

2001 - The September 11 attacks also referred to as 9/11 were a series of four suicide attacks that were committed in the United States. On that Tuesday morning, 19 terrorists hijacked four passenger jets. The hijackers intentionally piloted two of those planes into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City; both towers collapsed within two hours. Nearly 3,000 people died in the attacks including the 227 civilians and 19 hijackers aboard the four planes, none of whom survived.

1917 - Ferdinand Marcos was born in Sarrat, Philippines. He ruled the Philippines from 1966, imposing an authoritarian regime until he was ousted in 1986.

September 12

1943 - Former Italian Dictator Benito Mussolini was rescued by German paratroopers on orders from Adolf Hitler. Mussolini was being held prisoner by Italian authorities following the collapse of his Fascist regime.

1812 - Napoleon and his troops first entered Moscow as the retreating Russians set the city on fire. Napoleon found it was impossible to stay through the winter in the ruined city. He then began a retreat from Moscow which became one of the great disasters of military history. Fewer than 20,000 of the original 500,000 men with him survived the Russian campaign.

1960 - The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) was formed by representatives of oil-producing countries meeting in Baghdad.

September 15

1776 - British forces under General William Howe captured New York during the American Revolution.

1890 - British mystery author Agatha Christie was born in Torquay, England. She wrote nearly a hundred books including mysteries, dramas, poetry and nonfiction.

September 16

1620 - The Mayflower ship departed from England, bound for America with 102 passengers and a small crew. The ship weathered dangerous Atlantic storms and reached Provincetown, Massachusetts on November 21. The Pilgrims disembarked at Plymouth on December 26.

1982 - Beginning of a two-day massacre in Palestinian refugee camps in West Beirut as Christian militiamen (the Phalangists) entered Sabra and Shatila and began shooting hundreds of Palestinians, including elderly men, women and children.

September 17

1941- Death penalty abolished... for the time being. The Labour Party had opposed capital punishment, and, after it took office in 1935, it commuted all death sentences to life in prison. This policy was confirmed by the abolition of the death penalty for murder in 1941.

September 18

1810 - Chile declared its independence from Spain after 269 years as a colony.

September 19

1893 - New Zealand became the first country to grant women the right to vote.

1994 - US troops invaded Haiti, with the stated goal of restoring democracy.

September 20

1989 - F. W. De Klerk was sworn-in as president of South Africa. He began an era of reform aimed at ending apartheid and was succeeded by Nelson Mandela.

September 21

1949 - The People's Republic of China was proclaimed by its Communist leaders.

September 22
1862 - President Abraham Lincoln issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in territories held by Confederates as of January 1, 1863.

1996 - Australian Bob Dent, a cancer victim, became the first person to commit legally assisted suicide, via a lethal injection, under a voluntary euthanasia law.

1791 - British scientist Michael Faraday was born in Surrey, England. His discovery of electromagnetic induction proved that moving a magnet through a coil of wire produces a current, resulting in the development of electric generators.

September 23

1991 - Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union.

September 24

1980 - War erupted between Iran and Iraq as Iraqi troops crossed the border and encircled Abadan, then set fire to the world's largest oil refinery.
September 25

1690 - The first American newspaper was published. A single edition of Publick Occurrences Both Foreign and Domestick appeared in Boston, Massachusetts. However, British authorities considered the newspaper offensive and ordered its immediate suppression.

1995 - The Israeli cabinet agreed to give Palestinians control of much of the West Bank which had been occupied by Israel for 28 years.

September 28

1542 - California was discovered by Portuguese navigator Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo upon his arrival at San Diego Bay.

1995 - Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat signed an accord at the White House establishing Palestinian self-rule in the West Bank.

September 29

1901 - Nuclear physicist Enrico Fermi was born in Rome. While teaching at the University of Chicago, he developed a method of causing nuclear fission, producing a chain reaction releasing explosive nuclear energy which led to the development of the Atomic bombs.

September 30

1966 - Nazi war criminals Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were released from Spandau prison after serving 20 years. The prison, originally built for 600 inmates, was left with only one prisoner, former Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess.